When John Adams proclaimed, “I believe in a government of laws, not of men,” he couldn’t have imagined just how many laws—or how much legal mumbo-jumbo—his descendants would have to endure. In his day, after all, people didn’t do things like put an empty sheet at the end of the Constitution labeled, “This page intentionally left blank.”

By the time we first discussed putting Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh on the cover of this magazine, I had already been a steady customer of the company for five years and knew all about its astonishing service standards.

For several years, you’ve been able to book charter flights on the Internet and now, as we’ve reported in Business Jet Traveler, there’s a retail store in London–The Jet Business–where you can actually walk in off the street and buy an airplane.

In his recent Business Jet Traveler interview with Elite Aviation owner Chris Holifield, journalist Matt Thurber noted that “you don’t see a lot of women-owned aviation businesses.” Bizav, he said, is “a boys’ club.”
It sure is, and so is the rest of the aviation world.

I recently interviewed Kenn Ricci, the principal of Directional Aviation Capital, which owns Flight Options, Nextant Aerospace and Constant Aviation. When I asked him about his state of mind, he immediately replied, “I made a pact with myself in 2007 to never complain about anything ever again.”

These days, everybody complains about the airlines–rotten food, TSA hassles, cramped seating, long delays, lost luggage. And while private jet travelers are a decidedly happier lot, they’ve been known to offer the occasional gripe as well–the charter flight lacked sufficient baggage space, the catering service overcharged, the FBO disappointed.

Quote/Unquote

“"How many leaders actively seek out and encourage views alien and at odds with their own? All too few...Who in your organization serves as your Challenger In Chief? Interrogating the choices you are considering making? Making you consider the uncontemplated, the unimaginable and that which contradicts or refutes your position? And also challenging you?"”

-Noreena Hertz, author of Eyes Wide Open: How To Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World